Introduction to Montague Semantics

by David R. Dowty, Robert E. Wall, Stanley Peters

In this book we hope to acquaint the reader with the fundamentals of truth­ conditional model-theoretic semantics, and in particular with a version of this developed by Richard Montague in a series of papers published during the 1960's and early 1970's. In many ways the paper 'The Proper Treatment of Quantification in Ordinary English' (commonly abbreviated PTQ) represents the culmination of Montague's efforts to apply the techniques developed within mathematical logic to the semantics of natural languages, and indeed it is the system outlined there that people generally have in mind when they refer to "Montague Grammar". (We prefer the term "Montague Semantics" inasmuch as a grammar, as conceived of in current linguistics, would contain at least a phonological component, a morphological component, and other subsystems which are either lacking entirely or present only in a very rudi­ mentary state in the PTQ system. ) Montague's work has attracted increasing attention in recent years among linguists and philosophers since it offers the hope that semantics can be characterized with the same formal rigor and explicitness that transformational approaches have brought to syntax. Whether this hope can be fully realized remains to be seen, but it is clear nonetheless that Montague semantics has already established itself as a productive para­ digm, leading to new areas of inquiry and suggesting new ways of conceiving of theories of natural language. Unfortunately, Montague's papers are tersely written and very difficult to follow unless one has a considerable background in logical semantics.

Genres: Linguistics, Philosophy, Language, Nonfiction, Mathematics

328 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1980

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some people hate this book, and most people have never heard of it. But if you have some background in mathematics and/or logic, and are curious about whether it's possible to talk about that elusive concept, "meaning", in a fully rigorous way, then I cannot recommend it too highly. Most contemporary theories of semantics are, in one way or another, related to Montague grammar, and this book is an essential prerequisite. It's very nicely written.

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Oh my goodness. Here's your random fact of the day: about three-quarters of the way through Infinite Jest, Mario sees this book open on Avril Incandenza's desk. David Foster Wallace even supplies the name of the publisher in Endnote 317. It is the only time I have ever seen it mentioned in any non-technical work - I am quite sure I would have remembered.

I wonder if it will play any further role in the story? Will post again if it does.

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I am sad to say that Dowty et al played no further part in the story. But all the same, I hope that the publishers will consider re-issuing it with a big starburst on the front cover saying "As Featured In Cult Novel Infinite Jest". Might help sales?

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I know one of the authors slightly (Stanley Peters), and finally remembered to ask him if he was aware that his book appeared in Infinite Jest. He wasn't, and seemed very pleased! He said he'd pass the news on to Dowty and Wall, whom I've never met but revered from a distance. Well, I guess that was my good deed for the day.

[Othman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This a good book to learn formal semantics and keep for future reference. But it is so dense. I think the content could have been explained better especially because the book, as pointed out by the authors, is intended for students.